The Putin-Netanyahu deal to remove foreign forces from Syria breaks new ground for both

When President Vladimir Putin sat down with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Feb. 27, the US envoy Jared Kushner was in Ankara and two days earlier, Bashar Assad arrived in Tehran on a surprise visit. All the parties involved in Syria were on the move to break the deadlock on Syria’s future. And for the first time, Israel’s leader was given a place at the table by the Russian president.

The only Iranian officials who knew the Syrian leader was coming on Monday, Feb. 25 were supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Middle East commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. No word leaked from their tightly closed-door conversations. However, the ayatollah is believed to have directed Assad to hand over to Iranian firms all the contracts for his country’s vast reconstruction projects and to turn away all oil-rich Arab emirates funding propositions.

In Moscow, Israel’s Military Intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman spread before Putin maps showing Iranian military sites in Syria. Netanyahu’s main object in meeting Putin at this time was to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria. The Russian leader replied that both Jerusalem and Moscow have a common goal, which is “to return the situation in Syria to what it was before the eight-year long civil war.”

This was a landmark departure for both. Its epic significance was shouted down by Israel’s tempestuous election campaign and the attorney general’s ruling on the bribery case against the prime minister. What happened in Moscow was that Netanyahu broke with the conventional wisdom of his own intelligence chiefs, who consistently claimed that Assad had lost the war and that the IDF had destroyed 90 percent of Iran’s military structures in Syria. Admitting that neither was realistic, he struck a deal with Putin for setting up a joint Russian-Israeli commission for the removal of all foreign forces from Syria.

For Putin this was an audacious albeit calculated move. If Assad, whose regime he had saved, could fly to Tehran without a word to Moscow, Putin was ready to introduce Israel into discussions on the future of Syria. After last month’s talks with Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, the Russian president was bringing Netanyahu into the equation.
The prime minister also trod on new terrain when he agreed to talk with the Russian president on ways to remove “all foreign forces” from Syria – American as well as Iranian – and  even to discuss the security arrangements to prevail after they were gone.

As for Jared Kushner’s meetings that same Wednesday with Erdogan, the official word was that they discussed the US Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. What they really talked about was the creation of a Turkish-led buffer zone in northern Syria and the sale of US Patriot air defense missiles for the Turkish army, provided Erdogan cancelled his S-400 missile deal with Moscow.
Therefore, while in Ankara, Kushner discussed with Erdogan the introduction of Turkish troops into Syria (on certain conditions), in Moscow, Netanyahu and Putin laid plans for the withdrawal of all foreign troops. It will take a while to find out whether these discussions lead anywhere or peter out like so many other moves on Syria. It will be interesting to see if Netanyahu can serve as a bridge between Donald Trump and Putin on the Syrian question. The US president’s hands are tied by the conspiracy climate in Washington around any connection with Moscow. Netanyahu too is hobbled by the charged atmosphere over the allegations against him and his challengers’ loud calls for his resignation. Nevertheless, while both are severely hampered for seizing bold new initiatives, Putin has opened a door .

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26 thoughts on “The Putin-Netanyahu deal to remove foreign forces from Syria breaks new ground for both

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 18:03 at 18:03
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    Any news about ayatollah’s suicide, or about the ayatollah being suicided, are good and appreciated, does not matter the letter of the news Hebrew or Cyrillic.

    • Mar 3, 2019 @ 6:25 at 6:25
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      Israel and the United States will not stop until Iran is “Re-Engineered” into a Persian Nation that succumbs to Washington’s and Moscow’s Will. Netanyahu is cautious and calculating. He takes bigger chances only when desperate. He’s desperate. This is a risky time, when he is not his usual self. His usual self is a nasty piece of work, but this is a whole different level of danger. He could do anything, and he’d be willing too.

      • Mar 6, 2019 @ 2:07 at 2:07
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        ↑ This

    • Mar 3, 2019 @ 6:31 at 6:31
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      We will surely find that he stabbed himself in the back thirty four times, then threw himself off a bridge, which caused death right after landing on dry hard ground (that river has water only during the rain season) because by a strange coincidence Rouhani came down too, and right over his head, with an anvil chained to his neck.

      • Mar 3, 2019 @ 22:37 at 22:37
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        The Desert has many Devil’s Anvils but sooner or later they are pounded into submission by a Lion of Judea. One can be a Fox for a while but a Lion will always stand taller in Defense of his National Pride! One Day Persians and Israelis will once again walk hand in hand as Sons and Daughters of Abraham just like in the Days of King Cyrus of Persia and later with King Solomon of Israel.

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 18:10 at 18:10
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    I DONT IF THAT IS TRUE WHAT IS WRITTEN HERE. BIBI HAS NO INTEREST TO NETRY US FOR RUSSIA. RUSSIA HAS NO PLACE IN SYRIA. RUSSIA MUST LEAVE SYRIA.

    • Mar 2, 2019 @ 20:49 at 20:49
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      Look u, have some manners please. Why do you burst on to the site shouting? And what does netry mean?
      And where is the apostophe on the first ‘don’t’? Finally, have you ever heard of the occasional necessity of being realistic?

    • Mar 3, 2019 @ 6:28 at 6:28
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      Persians will someday soon take back Persia and the Shiia will be put back in Mosques where they belong, not in Power Houses of Governments! They do better on knees praying to survive just like the Vatican Popes of Hopes that Raged War on City-States and Nations, until they learn a better Way to Pray and not Prey on others. King Cyrus of Persia was more Wise in 600 BC than Muhammadan Islam in 600 AD.

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 18:44 at 18:44
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    Most importantly, Iran must leave Syria. If they stay then that will be a good target for our attack and exercise. And eventually will go home dead or alive.

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 21:50 at 21:50
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    Erdogan’s purchase of both the s300 and obsolete F-35 target drones is no longer of top concern for Putin considering what’s happened to Netanyahu politically on Feb 28, but it still can’t hurt to use them for wargaming purposes

    • Mar 2, 2019 @ 21:55 at 21:55
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      Maybe the sly Wily Coyote was trying to double dip and sell the free F-35s to Putin – why bother with the Turk middleman!

      • Mar 2, 2019 @ 22:00 at 22:00
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        What did the Palestinian Roadrunner say to Bibi after he snuck up behind him as he surveyed the majesty of Monument Valley from his lookout lair high above the desert floor?

        • Mar 2, 2019 @ 22:11 at 22:11
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          Thank you – that explains how Bibi ‘broke new ground’

          • Mar 3, 2019 @ 6:30 at 6:30
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            The same thing happen in Iran as well, when Mohammad Javad Zarif, the driving force behind Iran’s Nuclear deal with President Obama-Kerry 2015 Non-Senate Ratified was kept away from all meetings and then quit, as he apologized for being wrong as Iran’s Foreign Expert much like others Foreign Policy Experts in America, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Israel, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Communist China, and now Russia.

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 22:03 at 22:03
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    B.N.stay away from the crocodile!

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 22:31 at 22:31
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    bibi if you betry US FOR RUSSIA BE AWARE !!!! PUTIN IS NOT A US FRIEND BUT HE IS AN ENEMY SO SAID DONT FORGET IT.

  • Mar 2, 2019 @ 22:33 at 22:33
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    My Kahanist friend ‘Jerry’ Is Moving to a Settlement Built on Stolen Palestinian Land. Is It Immoral to Help or Should I Just Turn Him In?

    • Mar 7, 2019 @ 23:32 at 23:32
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      no such thing as palestinian land

  • Mar 3, 2019 @ 1:36 at 1:36
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    Everyone mentioned in this article is corrupt to the core.

  • Mar 3, 2019 @ 4:57 at 4:57
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    In my opinion all these budding agreements will peter out because the Holy Bible states that the very nations mentioned here will invade Israel – from the north – as a united alliance.
    They are now on Israel’s northern border and
    The US is about to leave.

    Look for a major event – soon – which will change the atmosphere from “withdrawal from Syria” to “invade Israel”.

    • Mar 3, 2019 @ 19:57 at 19:57
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      Your opinion displays your ignorance of Scripture. The nations that come from the north are not modern day nations, and they are not from the north of Israel. It is the princes of nations/10 horns (gog/devil the leader), and they are seized from the north parts of space, not earth. They are seized, turned around (because they are running scared), led like a donkey, and thrown down aka the war in heaven (space). Then they give their allegiance to the angel of the abyss, and this is the covenant of Daniel 9. It is a covenant of the strong (wicked angels) over the many (humans). They conquer/destroy everything with ease, not peace.

  • Mar 3, 2019 @ 10:07 at 10:07
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    It’s official – the herem (fatwa) on Otzma Yehudit has now consumed Netanyahu, and continues to engulf Kahanist Israel and it’s Lobby – now the Diaspora is bolting to the Blue White Party/CIS

    Desperate times call for the most desperate of attempted remedies – and the bedfellows of this wedding bed is going to be exceedingly ugly and uglier
    Mouthpieces Sen Menendez, Cardin, Presidents, and Warren are leading the rout. It’s a ‘horse gone, close the gate’ type maneuver to try to forestall the 1P1V1S Anti-Kahanist Solution.

    • Mar 3, 2019 @ 10:09 at 10:09
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      Anti-Kahanism is the new Orange

      • Mar 3, 2019 @ 10:19 at 10:19
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        Encyclopedia Judaica says ‘Anti-Kahanism is Anti-Jewish H_____ism’

        Heck even Al knows ‘Anti-Kahanism is Anti-Jewish H_____ism’ can’t be a bad thing!

        Hmmmm – looks like OJ’s lawyer has his job cut out for him and this ain’t gonna be no Lolita Express cakewalk either

  • Mar 3, 2019 @ 10:35 at 10:35
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    1st Trimester Kahanists

    50% to 60%, nay 70% of Israel could rightly be called Kahanist, ‘Semi-Kahanist’ or ‘Partially Kahanist’ – while perhaps surprisingly, similiar numbers probably obtain to the Kahanist Lobby of Apartheid Israel.
    These could probably be somewhat formalized into Reform Kahanists, Conservative Kahanists, and Ultra-Kahanists, or perhaps 1st Trimester, 2nd Trimester, or Full Term Kahanists.

  • Mar 3, 2019 @ 12:38 at 12:38
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    Sometimes it is better to do no deals rather than stupid deals (like allowing Turkey to monitor a buffer zone), which pretend that both parties are sincere when one (Russia) has proven that it cannot be trusted, and deals that anger more of the stakeholders than they satisfy.

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